


What's Lost is Frozen

by DarkBlueBirds



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: All the characters show up, Anya Lives, But in fanfic to make things easier, Clarke and Lexa are background with some POV chapters cause clexa is also my baby, Clexa, F/F, F/M, Frozen In Time, Frozen in Ice, Government Testing, Human Experimentation, Lexa Lives, M/M, Multi, My attempt at making a character, OC, OC centric, Sci-Fi, So Much Friendship, This story is also over on FF, This story is basically, This story is my baby but it's also practice, Violence, but I love Anya, mamabear!anya, ranya
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:37:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8274739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkBlueBirds/pseuds/DarkBlueBirds
Summary: Anya looked at Lexa’s face as she gazed at the body and knew her mind was racing, asking questions that she could not answer. Her mind had worked like that since she was young, Anya knew. Finally they moved to speak to the others. Just as Lexa was about to speak, they heard a ragged sound from behind them.Breathing.----A soft throat clearing drew my attention back to Anya and I knew she was still waiting for an answer.“I don’t have a name."-----A girl with no name is trained in the facility for nine years to be a super soldier. She's only young, and when the nuclear war hits they freeze her. 97 years later and the Trikru and Skaikru, currently in a unstable alliance find her. Lexa steps in and assigns her to Anya, and all sorts of intense drama and mischief ensues as the girl tries to learn to live.*********





	1. Prologue

Prologue  
I watched through the small window of my cell as everyone rushed about, panicking. Men and women in white coats yelled angry, frustrated orders at each other. The smallest smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. All their hard work, all the doctor’s monsters and all the general’s soldiers was going to go to waste. The only thing that could cause this panic was that the nuclear war that raged outside our door had finally come knocking. Sure, the facilities had a bunker but the severity of these bombs had not been expected, and everyone knew that only a few of the sections of the underground area would survive.  
I knew I was going to die. This was such an important government facility, that naturally there were eyes watching for the incoming attack and naturally those eyes had alerted the head of the facility. There was an evacuation plan. Of course, we were not included. Taking a group mixed with a hundred genetic experiments and intensely trained young warriors, all of which harboured a deep hate for the people who created them was indeed not a wise move. After all, they could only keep us sedated for so long.  
As my smile grew with the panic, I was mildly startled when a face popped up in front of my door’s window. I kept my face blank, the way all the warriors were taught to. I was curious as the face was not my general, but rather a frazzled looking slate haired doctor.  
Her shoulder moved in conjunction with her arm, and I knew she was pressing a button that released a sedative gas into my room’s air. After a few rather violent outbursts from some of my neighbours it had been decided that all the soldiers and a fair few of the more volatile experiments should be sedated before being moved.  
I slumped to the ground about thirty seconds after my first breath of the poison air. It still had that bitter sweet taste to it as it had the last hundred times this had happened. It paralysed my muscles, but left everything else operational and somehow my eyes could still move, though I couldn’t shut them. The door opened and shoved against my body as the doctor and two armed soldiers slipped in.  
“Hurry,” the doctor urged, “We only have an hour to get the entire twenty into the ice chambers.” Ice chambers? What did she mean by that?  
One of the men grunted as he picked me up, while the other one said, “Only twenty? I thought there were a hundred of them?”  
We strode down the hallway, my body lying limply over the soldier’s shoulder. This feeling of being weak and helpless was one I always despised.  
“We only have enough for twenty, so we’re taking the most promising ten of both the experiment division and the super soldier division,” the doctor explained and then continued, “We’ll put five in each of the four lowest bunkers in the hope that at least some of them will survive. We’ll come back for them when the war is over. The other eighty are easily replicated and replaced, so we’ll leave them in their cells for when the bombs hit.”  
The two soldiers murmured their understanding, before one said to the other, “I know these guys are lethal as fuck, but why bother? Training them to use weapons they’ll never need, like swords and bow and arrows? I can understand knives, but throwing stars and spears?”  
The man holding me shrugged in reply, which I found very uncomfortable. My long, dull black ponytail flopped in front of my head. The truth was the doctors said if we got bored with our training we would become more unstable, despite the pills they gave us to try and keep our emotions balanced. Finally everything was lit with an almost blue light and I knew we were underground. We headed onto a staircase and began to descend.  
When we hit the fourth level the man swung me round and set me on the floor, back slumped against a cold wall. The entire room was chilled, actually. Like a fridge.  
I finally had a chance to take in my surroundings, and looking around as much as I could with my head paralysed, I saw a large brick room with five coffins in it. Well, they looked like coffins, only electrical with glass tops and bases filled with all sorts of confusing electronics.  
Looking to the other wall I saw two of the experiment kids. 43, the slight girl with white hair was one of the finest creations the doctors had made, or so I had heard. They had changed something inside of her so she healed rapidly and could even heal others, though she was still mastering that. It was very scientific, something about controlling the brain to make it work much faster in releasing all the healing agents. How she cured poisons was still confusing to me though. The next one, 78, was a tall athletic looking girl with long black hair was more of a mystery to me. I knew her particular talent had something to do with visibility, but I wasn’t sure.  
I realized that even though I couldn’t see there must be two people of my wall with me. Soldiers, warriors like me. Even now we were being separated.  
As I was lifted once again by a soldier, I saw the two experiments get lifted as well. I had a bad feeling as the words coffin and ice chamber swirled around in my head. My body swung a bit as I was carried, and I saw 13 and 27 being lifted behind me. Two men had to carry 13, he was so huge. He was also nasty. 27 was much slighter, but he was quick and 13’s lackey.  
“Open it up,” The man commanded, and a new doctor came over with greying hair and a hooked nose. He flicked a switch, and then when the button next to it went green he pressed that. They were the only electronics on the top of the coffin and they were embedded into a small piece of metal over where my chest would go.  
At this point, panic was rising in my chest no matter how I fought it. “Hey, Doc.” The man holding me grunted as the doctor patiently waited for the coffin to beep ten times before the glass lid opened, connected to metal, electrical hinges.  
The man dropped me inside and I fell uncomfortably onto a cold gel surface. The doctor tutted and muttered something about removing clothing, which made the panic expand even more. He did however answer the man looking at me curiously.  
“Yes?”  
“What happens if we die and don’t come back for these guys?” The man asked uncomfortably.  
“Then they stay frozen forever,” The doctor impatiently gestured at the man and he moved to prop me up as the doctor started removing my clothes. I swear I stopped breathing, but the doctor didn’t care and his hands still moved, unfastening and unclasping. It wasn’t the nudity that bothered me; it was the doctor’s hands, cold and precise.  
“Wait... What if someone finds them in the future and lets them out? Don’t the bombs leave that radiation shit?” He asked another question, and I had to admit I was curious to.  
The doctor huffed, irritated by this constant questioning. His next answer was slight snappish, “We had radiation monitors, there all around the worked in different locations in case some are destroyed. The ones these are ideally programmed for are the American ones, though if there all destroyed it will use a monitor from another country. Based on the results from the monitors the ice chambers will slowly introduce radiation into their system to make them immune. Before you ask, they will be able to survive the radiation because we’ve been giving them treatments to make them more compatible with the radiation for a long time. We’ve had this back up plan for an even longer time.”  
The guard finally seemed satisfied and remained quite. The doctor ripped off my sports bra and my chest was left completely exposed. He ripped the tie out of my hair, and it hurt badly enough that I wanted to hit the man, hard. My heart skipped a beat, but the doctor simply continued to remove my pants and underpants before roughly shoving me into the gel mattress type thing inside the machine.  
I wanted to scream and cry at the same time as he closed the glass dome over me, and yet still my muscles were paralysed. As he began to bend over to presumably fiddle with switches on the side I felt my muscles finally loosen. They hadn’t given me a large dose of sedative.  
Just as I could gather the strength to lift my arm, the doctor gave a pleased cry and the machine started to hum. I felt a slight chill before suddenly the temperature began to drop rapidly. The glass quickly clouded and frosted over and I felt my finally free muscles begin to sieve again in the cold. I didn’t even have the chance to start shivering before my mind began to slow. I fought it even as my eyes closed and the fear and panic gathered as I struggled to breath.  
Just as my panic and worry came to a crescendo the cold became too much. I felt my thoughts slip away; my blood slow and my muscles stiffen.  
I had lost this fight.  
~~~  
Ninety Seven years passed, the nuclear war long finished and the ice chambers holding their captives still. Some survived this frozen period; others did not.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and so it begins

Chapter 1  
Anya  
Anya trudged along besides her former second and now commander, Lexa. It had been a very rewarding season, what with the mountain men being destroyed by Lexa and the Sky Princess’s combined forces. She had almost decided against negotiating for peace when she was shot by the sky people; however Clarke’s insistence on saving her life had softened her slightly.  
Anya looked to Lexa and then to Clarke, walking along the Commander’s left, comfortable in her presence. They had been growing unusually close since the war, and Anya did not bother to tell Lexa that love was weakness, not when she already knew.  
The war had changed them. Now, there was concern in Lexa’s eyes when she noticed the haunted look in Clarkes. And Clarkes eyes... They held many ghosts. The story of how the Mountain Men’s leader’s son had gone insane and threatened to kill all of their people locked in the mountain had spread far and wide. So had the fact that Clarke had been given no choice but to open the airways and kill them all with radiation. The only team that managed to get in was Indra’s and Clarke had snuck in with them once they realised the main door would not open. Lexa had been furious.  
But nonetheless, Clarke had saved them along with her friends and now she was most commonly known as Wanheda.  
She disdainfully looked towards the sky people travelling with them. Clarke she could tolerate, if only just, but the girl’s mother had insisted on travelling with them as they headed to a set of ruins. So had the man, Kane.  
He had mentioned something about an old military base that was also a government science lab, but he didn’t know much more than that. Clarke’s mother wore a white coat that had been produced from the ruins of one of the ships they had fallen from the sky in.  
She wanted to look for medical supplies, she had said. Anya let the faintest smile as she remembered Lexa’s firm insistence that they got half of whatever was there, since they were providing security for this trip. The doctor had not been happy but had relented when the man had pressured her. It was growing closer to winter and Lexa was intent on getting all the supplies she could before she had to travel to Polis and trade for the rest. She was the commander but she was also Trikru and she had to care for her people. Another twig snapped under the doctor’s feet, and Kane winced as he saw the tight set to Lexa’s jaw.  
Anya held a slight respect for the man. He had swallowed his pride and asked Lexa to teach him and some of his men how to walk silently. They were getting better. When the doctor was offered this learning opportunity she refused it. There was no doubt that the doctor held no respect for either Lexa or Clarke. She still thought of them both as children.  
Finally they approached what looked to be a field with bunches of scraps and rocks littered about. But just a bit further along was what they were looking for; the base.  
Lexa strode to it with purpose as the Skaikru murmured to themselves. “Anya,” Lexa said softly in trigedasleng.  
Anya glanced at her to show she had heard her and Lexa continued to speak, “Watch the doctor carefully. Do not let her wander.”  
Anya nodded her understanding before Lexa called out in English, “Stop.”  
The party halted their walk towards the now close base and looked at Lexa in confusion. “Once there, we will separate into two groups. Abby, you will come with Anya, Lincoln, and me. Kane, you will go with Clarke, Octavia and the warrior you have brought. The six guards I have brought will search the building for threats. Understood?”  
Abby, the doctor, did not look happy. However, when she saw the man agreeing she nodded tersely. As they started up again Anya found herself curios to what she would find. Medical supplies would help them greatly this winter, as would food stores. The finally found their way into the ruins and Anya stopped short when she came across a section of destroyed floor that seemed to go down at least three floors. “We should come back to this, look for a way in.”  
Lexa nodded her assent and they moved forward. Anya slipped into position right behind the doctor watching her with suspicious eyes. They walked into a different room though they could only tell that by some of the foundation sticking out. Most of this had been flattened by bombs. “Walk carefully; this floor could collapse at any second.” Lincoln called.  
Methodically they searched the floor, finding a few worthwhile scraps here and there. Lexa also gave the order to collect iron. Finally their group made its way back to the hole in the floor, even as the other group still searched the expansive ruins. They hadn’t gone far, and Anya could tell both the doctor and her commander were curious.  
“Move down these ruins with caution, the rubble pile may slide as you climb down,” Lexa ordered. It had been a five week journey here, and Anya knew she would be frustrated if it yielded nothing of purpose. They slowly picked their way down, until finally they were on the third floor.  
“Look,” Lincoln breathed.  
Anya knew what he meant instantly, wondering how she had not noticed it before. From a door on the other side of the half collapsed room all the way to the rubble pile were two long sets of drag marks, and the rubble, though being disturbed by their own movement, had obviously been moved as well when whatever it was had been dragged up. Anya wondered how they had dragged something that was obviously heavy, if the deep groves in the floor were anything to go by, up such an unstable mound. Perhaps they had ropes.  
“Someone else has been here, proceed with caution,” Lexa warned.  
Anya’s eyes were drawn to the doctor once again; the interested look on her face as she looked at the groove marks enough to make her cautious.  
They slowly picked their way to the stairwell and then descended into what seemed to be a fourth basement level. There were drag marks on the stairs as well. The air seemed to grow colder the lower they got. Finally the group crowded in the room, and what they found was quite shocking.  
Two metal boxes with glass tops lay side by side, and a pile of plaster that had fallen from a weakened section of roof lay in the centre. They couldn’t see much past it. Anya was glad they had not walked over that section of the roof.  
As they drew closer to the boxes, long and rectangular, Anya kept one hand on her sword hilt. Something about this felt wrong.  
Lexa approached first and then spoke with certainty, “Bodies.”  
The doctor rushed forward and Anya followed her quickly. Sure enough, through the glass you could see bodies. Only, they were horribly mangled. One was covered in burns and the skin had blackened with age. The other looked like it had simply decayed.  
“Coffins...” Abby mused, but then her gaze was drawn to the bottom half of the boxes.  
Anya looked as well. There were all sorts of dials and tubes, switches and buttons. Little lights that Anya assumed should have been flashing like they did in the Sky People camp stayed dark.  
“No!” The doctor said suddenly, her eyes flitting about and making Anya nervous.  
Abby looked up, “Preservation tanks. To keep the bodies looking the same, I would assume. It looks like this one,” She gestured to the decayed body, “Just didn’t function properly. However, the other one almost looks like radiation. Maybe...” She trailed off, examining the machine almost frantically.  
“Aha! This snapped somehow. Maybe it let radiation in and it affected the body... But that is confusing because this area dates back a hundred years and the body only looks twenty years old. Wait, no. That’s strange because the other body isn’t affected by radiation even though the machine didn’t work. Unless it’s airtight...” They all began to ignore the doctors rambling  
“Looks like there used to be more of them,” Lincoln called. They all moved around the rubble pile, and Anya’s eyes took in the drag marks that left from the pale rectangles on the floor.  
“Interesting,” Abby said. “The fact that there is nothing from the ground that would have connected to the chambers means they operate completely on their own... They must have some kind of way of charging though. A mechanism inside perhaps. If only those bodies were preserved still, we could have gotten a lot of information from them.”  
The grounders shifted uncomfortably. The doctor’s speech reminded them to much of Mount Weather.  
“There is nothing of use for us here. Move on, and search the remainder of this building. Within two days, I want this entire area searched, below ground and above ground. We load supplies onto carts and make our way back. They will be evenly divided when we arrive home.” Lexa’s voice was firm, but Anya knew her the best and caught the slight concern no one else would see. They shared a look, and Anya knew Lexa was asking the same question she was. Who was here, and why did they want those chambers?  
Just as they began to make their way to the stairs, something caught Anya’s eye. A glimmer of light that she had almost missed. “Wait,” She called.  
Lexa just barely raised an eyebrow, which was enough permission for Anya. She strode towards the pile of plaster and the light disappeared as the angle changed, but Anya knew it was there. She crouched down and pulled at the piece of plaster, and after a firm yank, threw it to the ground. There it was. She began to pull at more and more plaster until she had cleared a section, and Anya knew she was looking at another of what the doctor called a preservation chamber, only this one was functioning. A soft hum that Anya hadn’t heard before filled the room. It must have been muffled by the plaster.  
Lincoln came over and helped her clear all of the plaster and bits of roofing until finally they were looking at a full chamber. The hum got a bit louder. The glass on it was frosted and the glass was freezing to touch. On the glass there was a panel with a button, a light and a switch. It was current facing down, the words preservation engraved. At the top of the switch was revival. Lexa came up and Lincoln stepped away to make room. She swiped her hand over the frosted glass and the very blurry image of a face was visible. The glass was still frosted on the inside.  
“Wow,” Abby breathed. Her gaze flickered to the revival switch.  
“If we turn that, I assume the body will return to its normal decay process. We should leave it for now, get samples while we can.” Abby seemed excited, but the slight stiffening in the commander’s body next to Anya assured her Lexa did not like the idea. She would not let Abby have this, she knew.  
“No,” Her commander’s voice was loud and her message was clear.  
Anya felt pride but did not let it show.  
“This could be dangerous. Leaving it here in this state, we do not know what enemies will come for it as the others did. Transporting it could have consequences also.” Lexa continued.  
“Then what do you suggest?” The doctor asked her voice tense.  
“We ‘revive’ it. If nothing horrible happens, we will see about these... samples, you seem eager for.” Lexa gazed at Anya, and Anya let the tiniest of smile flick the corner of her mouth in approval. Lexa looked away, her gaze betraying nothing.  
The doctor was not happy, and started to protest but Anya interjected, “You hold no sway here, sky healer. This is not your call.” Her voice was harsh and cold as a blade.  
“Fine,” The doctor growled, “But this could have held new discoveries.”  
“New discoveries are what killed this world once, Abby of the Sky People,” Lexa nodded to Anya.  
Anya reached for the switch, and was mystified when it wouldn’t budge. Her gaze strayed to the button, and a half gloved hand reached and pressed down on it. She watched as the light next to it flashed red, and after about ten seconds flashed green. She pushed the switch up.  
The chamber let out a loud hiss that made the three women take a step back, though Anya and Lexa’s faces remained blank. She heard Lincoln move to her side to watch.  
The bottom of the machine seemed to light up, and the air seemed to become slightly foggy around the machine as a humming noise started. After about two minutes of watching it in tense silence, the fog seemed to slowly dissipate on its own, and once again they crowded towards the machine, though this time Anya and Lexa were on an opposite side to Lincoln and Abby.  
Finally the glass cleared as the frost on the inside seemed to melt away. They had a clear view of the perfectly held body inside, a youthful young face with black hair strewn everywhere and dark eyelashes. The skin was perfectly smooth and strangely free of blemishes, except where scars were (which were numerous). Anya took in that the girl’s entire body was covered in a thin layer of frost, and she didn’t seem to have any garments on. Even more mystifying, everywhere but her head was completely free of hair. Her face said she was at least fourteen, yet her body did not seem very developed despite the hard muscles she was covered in, much like her own.  
The glass finally moved, opening on their side as it slid across towards the doctor and Lincoln, forcing them to step back before it slowly swung down to lay flat against the side. Anya shifted slightly; she did not like this technology. The frost had begun to slowly melt off her body, running down her sides in thin streams of water as it did. Anya wondered why this girl had been, and why she was so important as to have been kept like this. Not that it mattered now.  
“See. It’s fine. Can we please collect samples now?” The doctor was impatient, and Lexa ordered her to move away so she and Anya could look at the body first. She did, grudgingly, Lexa gestured for Lincoln to stay with her. He nodded and moved away.  
Anya looked at Lexa’s face as she gazed at the body and knew her mind was racing, asking questions that she could not answer. Her mind had worked like that since she was young, Anya knew. Finally they moved to speak to the others. Just as Lexa was about to speak, they heard a ragged sound from behind them.  
Breathing.  
They spun around and were just able to see the girl’s eyes when they shot open. Her small chest rose and fell rapidly as she coughed up water. Lexa, Anya and Lincoln drew their weapons in unison and moved into a semi circle, the doctor pushing up next to Anya.  
The sound of their weapons alerted the girl, and she scrambled out of the machine. She almost fell, her knees too weak to hold her but she rose up again. She snatched up a pipe and glared at them with wide eyes. She bared her teeth and although it did not faze Anya at all she knew it affected the doctor from her small intake of breath. Anya was on high alert and so were the others.  
Surprisingly, Abby recovered first. She took a small step forward, hands held out in a placating gesture.  
Idiot, Anya thought venomously. The doctor would get herself killed.  
The girl’s attention shifted from them and their weapons to the doctor, and when she took in Abby’s white coat her nostrils flared and she shifted, her steel pipe poised to strike.  
“It’s okay. We can help you.” Abby soothed.  
The girl went deadly still, and Abby took that as a good sign even as Anya knew that was her preparing to attack. She shifted, knowing that soon she may have to protect the doctor. She could tell Lincoln and Lexa were doing the same. The girl’s eyes darted to them, and Anya wondered how well she was trained.  
The girl was shivering now, icy water running down her body and to the floor. She was clearly not going to let her nakedness stop her from attacking. She gave a wet cough and water dribbled from her lips. There was a gleam in her eyes.  
“It’s okay,” Abby said again. “You’ll be alright. I can help. I’m a doctor.”  
Abby didn’t realize, but Anya and the other grounders instantly knew that had been the worst thing to say. The word set the girl off, and she took a step forward as her pipe swung out, aiming for Abby’s temple.  
Lincoln rushed forward to yank Abby behind him even as Lexa moved to intercept the blow and Anya lunged for the girl. There was a clang of metal on metal as Lexa yelled, “Anya! Restrain her, do not kill her!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will post this as quickly as possible. Please leave comments I will try to reply.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Number Eight  
I gasped in as much air as I could, slowly becoming aware of my surroundings. Icy cold water slid down into my lungs as I tried to breath. I was cold all over and my limbs felt too heavy for my body, they felt weak.  
I hated that.  
I heard a familiar sound, metal sliding as a weapon was unsheathed. My body instinctively went into battle mode as my mind slid into high alert. I went to launch myself out of the chamber, but my legs crumpled and I almost went to my knees. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. Two female warriors in rough clothing, armed to the teeth. A male warrior similarly dressed and armed. A woman in a white coat. I snatched up a long, thick metal pipe of the floor and braced myself against the chamber, hating how my legs trembled. I bared my teeth at them. The civilized doctors and soldiers always were startled by something so savage. This doctor was no exception.  
The woman in the white coat said something and I shifted towards her, my eyes burning holes into her. I didn’t hear what she said but it didn’t matter. A white coat like that meant she was a threat. I just don’t know why she, a doctor, would release me without sedating me. It was foolish of her. From the corner of my eye I observed that the room looked a lot more ruined then it once had been, and I realised I was standing amongst a pile of plaster. I gave my full attention to the doctor, forcing my body to go still like I had been taught. You are a predator, my instructor had said. Act like one.  
As I did this, I more sensed then saw the warriors getting ready to attack. I only let my eyes stray to them for a half second before I focused on the doctor. I would not be put in that chamber again. A voice in the back of my mind was asking frantic questions, like why was released so soon? How long had it been? Who were these people? Why had I been frozen?  
I started shivering at that last thought, my mind finally registering how cold my body was. I would need clothes. A wet cough forced its way through my lips, some of the fluid that had found its way into my lungs being dispelled.   
I looked at the doctor, at the way she held her hands out as if I was a wild animal. Good. She was the enemy, she should be frightened. My muscles were tensed and I was ready to spring. The tension in the room raised and I forgot my fear, my confusion and my cold body. My limbs still felt heavy and I still felt weak, but I could win this fight. A flicker of doubt hit me when I thought of the warriors, so different to the soldiers I normally fought but I pushed it away.  
“It’s okay,” The woman in the white coat said. “You’ll be alright. I can help. I’m a doctor.”  
That infuriated me. She can help? She’s a doctor? She’s an enemy, and I won’t let her near me. She’d probably drug me and use me, like all the doctors do. Use me to collect data, watch how my performance changed under drugs that were often painful to take. No! I would not submit to that. The ice coffin was the last straw. I didn’t care if they killed me, I would not suffer like this anymore.  
The very thought tipped me over and I narrowed my eyes at her before baring my teeth again and lunging. The pipe swung out in a perfect, deadly ark and I felt a shot satisfaction at how well executed the move was. But then the man pulled her out of my range before I could make my mark, and all of a sudden a sword was clashing against my pipe. I drew it back to my chest, instinctively parrying the blow I knew was coming. My arm erupted into painful tingles at the blow and I hadn’t even realized how numb it had been until then. The noise was slightly disorientating and I realized my body was even weaker then I guessed.  
“Anya! Restrain her, do not kill her!” I looked into the green eyes of the woman as she said that, ash smeared around them in a fierce design.  
I internally scoffed even as I spun to intercept the other woman’s attack. They would not take me alive. Fury bubbled in my veins making me stronger, even as the ice I was truly feeling weakened me. Her eyes were also smeared in ash, and I intercepted her blow before hearing the shift behind me. In a second I had ducked below the swing and watched as the hilt went over me, once again assuring me the purpose was to knock me out. In a moment I was standing tall and going for the blonde woman rather than the green eyed one, surprising her. My next attack was swift and hard, and she managed to move back far enough that I just clipped her on the edge of her head. Still, she went down and that was my objective.  
Triumphant, I spun to my other opponent. Weak as I was, I could not parry in time and she opened up a nasty gash on my arm. In rapid succession she punched me twice in the face with her free hand, even as I landed a blow on her hip with the pipe and twisted her hand away from my face before she could punch a third time. I was breathing heavily and blood ran from my nose and mouth, but I knew that blow to the hip would pain her. Just as I gathered myself to strike again something hard struck my wrist in its most sensitive spot, forcing me to let go of the pipe. I realized my mistake instantly. I had assumed she was unconscious and she had waited for the perfect moment to strike from behind. I hadn’t even knocked her out.   
I spun to her and punched in the face and was pleased to see blood coming from her earlier wound. Her clear eyes just proved that I was right; she had never truly been unconscious. Her return blow clipped my jaw with the hilt of her sword. I saw stars but blinked them away. A shallow slice to my shoulder made me spin again, but instantly arms came up underneath my armpits and locked behind my neck, essentially rendering my top half useless. Well, almost.  
Even though she didn’t let go I felt a rush of joy when I heard a dull crack as my head smashed back into her nose. Simultaneously I swung my legs up into the other girl’s unprotected side, using the one holding me as leverage. I brought them away as quick as I could, but I still suffered a cut along the front of my left calf.  
The woman behind me twisted and suddenly I was forced into the ground, plaster digging into me as I struggled. Her knee landed on back and one hand quickly twisted my arms behind me as a hand held down my head. I could just see the male warrior in a protective stance in front of the damn doctor and I snarled.   
“Enough!” The woman atop me ordered.  
I just struggled harder. I had been trained in combat since I was five, and for the last nine years I had no identity other than trainee. How had they gotten me into this situation?!  
I thrashed and let out a furious noise again. I was terrified, but I wouldn’t admit that. Just a few hours ago I had been forced into an icy prison and now I was trapped like a rat. I think it was more than a few hours, a voice whispered. I ignored it, not wanting to have to face that impossible thought.  
“What now, Lexa?” The woman restraining me asked.   
“I think she’s weak and disorientated. That entire battle was a fear response,” I bristled at that despite its truth.   
I would not have anyone thinking I was weak and scared. I started to struggle again but the woman just pressed harder with her knee and said, “Behave!”  
I let out an insulted sound. She told me to behave, like I was some kind of child. I was a warrior, not a little kid throwing a tantrum.   
I decided to go still and think this through. The woman, Anya I think she had been called, unfortunately did not loosen her grip at my sudden compliance. I tried not to be to frustrated that she was smart.   
“We can question her later, when she’s not as... aggressive. Also, she’ll die from the cold soon. Lincoln, find the others and tell them we’re going to have to set up camp early and then get back to searching. Anya, you and Lincoln will watch her,” She ordered and it was obvious the green eyed woman was in charge.   
Lexa. I committed the name to memory.  
The name seemed strange to me, but then all names did. I had been number eight for as long as I could remember.   
The woman shifted slightly above me and I could imagine her nodding.   
“Get her up,” Lexa ordered, and Anya obeyed.  
I was yanked harshly to my feet and I let out a hiss as the numerous cuts and battered parts of my body protested. The woman took up a pose behind me, restraining my body so I couldn’t move without risking injury to myself. From where we stood, I could just see the decayed bodies in the chambers that had held 13 and 27. Also, the empty spaces where 43 and 78 had once been. I filed that away as a future problem.  
I was right in front of that green eyed woman again and I tilted my chin up. I would not show any weakness to this woman, despite what she seemed to think.  
She said something in a harsh, foreign tongue. The woman holding me replied in the same tongue, and then her hand shifted away from my body. Before I could use this lapse to escape, a sharp pain exploded in the side of my head as she slammed the hilt of her dagger into my skull. I gasped and everything went black.  
~~~  
I began to wake. This time, I was warm and nothing was hindering my breathing. I could feel clothing on my body and something firm around my feet. There was a soft weight on my shoulders. However, there was someone very near me and I was thoroughly restrained, my arms and legs bound, my waist strapped to what I could only assume was a tree. I was also smarter this time.  
I just barely slitted my eyes open, watching as best as I could through my eyelashes. I knew I had to keep my cool and think of a way to escape.   
I watched a hand swipe my face with something that made the cuts to burn, especially the grazing on my jaw from when Anya had slammed me. I followed that had to an arm encased in white to a woman’s face. It was the doctor.   
Fury rushed through me. How dare she touch me! It took all of my concentration to stay still and keep my breathing even. I could just barely make out her features. I managed to get a glimpse of the darker skinned man next to her. It was the male warrior from earlier. He crouched by her as she sat on her knees and tended my wounds.  
Probably just making sure I don’t die so she can use me, I thought bitterly. I was suddenly glad that 43 and 78 were missing. Who knew what she would do if she got her hands on them.   
“She put up a brilliant fight. If she hadn’t been weakened by the ice she would have given Anya and Lexa a lot more trouble,” The man said softly.  
“I’m sure,” The woman replied before continuing, “Nevertheless, Lexa will get what she needs from her.”  
“Of course. Heda is very convincing,” The man replied easily.  
“I’ve noticed,” The doctor replied dryly.  
Every single time she touched me I had to hold in a shiver of revulsion. Her hands were cold, like the doctor’s I had grown up with. How many innocents had she tortured in her quest for knowledge? I still remembered the bodies of the children who hadn’t survived being experimented on and altered.   
“I just wish she would let me get samples. That kind of information could be very useful once we get some of the medical machinery from Mount Weather working in the communal hospital that's being set up.” The doctor sounded wistful, but that just sent my anger into more of a rage.  
She wanted samples from me? Like hell. My eyes shot open, and before even the warrior could react I slammed my head forwards. I heard a satisfying crack as her nose broke and it made the sting in my forehead and the aching from the blows to my head incredibly worthwhile.   
“Don’t touch me!” I hissed, ashamed of the slight tremor in my voice as I though of all the tests that had been carried out on me by doctors just like this one.  
I hadn’t been a mutant experiment, but they had been willing to try the craziest drugs on us.  
My eyes watched her every movement as she griped her nose and set it herself. She winced and I narrowed my eyes, tracking even her breathing. I was so focused on her I was almost startled when the warrior moved. I snapped my head towards him and bared my teeth.  
His eyes were gentle, and that somehow made me angrier even as he said, “We won’t hurt you, goufa.”  
The word he used to refer to me was foreign and I didn’t like it one bit. I didn’t like not knowing. I tried to school my features even as anger and despair and helplessness swirled around inside me.   
“Goufa means child,” He explained, and keeping my gaze stony and stopping my lips from twisting into a scowl was incredibly hard.  
I was fourteen years of age. I was no child.  
I took in my surroundings and realised we were in a forest. This confused me. How far had we travelled when I was unconscious? There were no forests around the facility. In fact, who were these people? Where were the soldiers and the doctors? They should all be cooing about how I survived the ice chamber and sticking needles inside of me.  
I heard footsteps and was broken from my musings. I looked towards the sound and saw the two women walking towards me. By the sun I would guess it was late afternoon. As they approached I recalled their names.   
Anya and Lexa.  
The male warrior was still crouched in front of me, though he spared a glance for the doctor. She waved her hand at him and instead looked at me. This time I couldn’t control the glare and scowl.   
“Abby, leave us,” Lexa commanded.  
I remembered what the male warrior had called her. Heda. From the way he bowed his head now, it was obviously a term of respect.  
The woman made a frustrated sound, but before she could speak Lexa continued, “She will say nothing and will not cooperate at all for as long as you are here. The damage to your nose is evidence enough.”  
“Fine, commander,” This Abby woman replied.  
I watched through narrowed eyes as she left the small area we were in, heading over to where a fire was being set up and more people milled around. I could sense many curious gazes, but I ignored them as I assured that the doctor was a safe distance from me.  
I then thought to the new title Lexa had been given. Who did she command, I wondered.  
“Lincoln, make sure no one strays over here,” Lexa ordered, drawing my attention back to the present.  
So that was his name. He simply nodded and went to stand guard between us and the main camp set up. My gaze drifted from the stern set of Lexa’s jaw to the incredibly similar set of Anya’s.  
I once again schooled my features into a blank mask. It was so much easier now that the doctor was gone. As I looked directly at the two warrior women I couldn’t help but feel a smidge of respect. I was one of the best of the fifty super soldier trainees and these two had taken me down. Granted, I had been weakened, but it was still an impressive feat.   
I let none of this show on my face. I waited for them to question me, for them to ask me of secrets I had no clue about, torture me for information or something else.  
Instead, Lexa took one step back and tilted her head towards Anya, who in turn took a step forward and crouched in front of me. I could easily head butt her like I had the doctor, but I felt no desire to. As I watched her brown eyes I knew she was not currently a threat. She made no move to speak, so I continued to study her features, from the fearsome looking war paint to the set of her lips and the length of nose. I committed it all to memory and summarised she was in her early twenties.   
I found my curiosity add into the mix of emotions inside of me as I wondered about her attire and weaponry. My fear had calmed now the doctor was gone, and looking into her steady brown eyes so did my anger. She had a harsh gaze, but she seemed... solid.  
I felt no anger over the battle, strangely. Rather, along with the respect I found myself wondering who they were. It had been a fear response and an anger response to attack, and if the doctor had not been there I may have been more rational. Or maybe not, considering that just the thought of the ice chamber angered me.  
Finally, she shifted on her heels and opened her mouth. I waited for a typical, who do you work for kind of question but instead got, “What’s your name?”   
Try as I might, I couldn’t keep the surprise from showing in my face. She had a deep yet slightly lilted voice, and as neutral as it was now I knew it could turn ice cold. But what surprised me was that she asked me for my name.  
We didn’t have names. We had numbers. All of the personnel at the facility knew that. Unless...  
“Are you a part of the facility?” I asked, my voice scratchy and hoarse from what I was assuming was misuse, which didn’t make sense because I had only been out a few hours.  
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Do you mean the building we found you in?”  
I nodded, watching her for any signs of a lie. My instructor would have us caned if we missed a lie.   
“No. That building is rubble now. It was destroyed in the nuclear war a hundred years ago. Only parts of the third level and the entirety of the fourth level of the basement survived.” Her voice was so matter of fact it actually lessened the blow.   
“I was in the chamber for a hundred years?” I asked my eyes wide.  
She just nodded whilst my mind raced. I thought about it. It wasn’t like I had had any friends, though there had been a sort of comradeship between some of the other soldiers. But if the building had been wiped... Then all that was left was the twenty who had been frozen. And any of the doctors or soldiers who had been in the building was dead, hell; they were all dead no matter what.   
“Did you find the other chambers?” I drew my knees up my chest, and I would have wrapped my arms around them if they were not bound to my sides so securely.   
“There were eight broken ones that held only dead bodies. There were eleven clean spots where they had obviously been moved. It is our assumption that you were left because they could not see you,” She watched me as she spoke.  
I nodded and licked my lips.   
We both went quiet for a while as I thought about the missing chambers before pushing that thought away. They could all look after themselves once they were released, and none of them were my problem. I only knew who two of them were anyway.   
I felt a strange sense of liberation. I couldn’t believe how free I felt now that the facility wasn’t constantly a threat to my life. It was so odd how I felt freer trapped against a tree then I ever had walking on my own to complete a mission, or training in the facility.  
I was broken from my thoughts when Anya spoke again, “I did ask you a question. What’s your name?”   
I looked past her brown eyes to see Lexa standing still, watching us both. I knew she could hear us, but she was also at the perfect angle to read my body language. I cursed that I had brought my knees up. It made me look weak and young. I looked away from her and wet my lips as I tried to formulate a reply.   
I looked down and noticed that they had completely wrapped my feet in bandages. They certainly felt warm enough. I turned my head to my shoulder and noticed that the soft weight from before was a fur blanket. I was wearing an oversized shirt and baggy pants. I wondered who had dressed me and tensed at the thought of the doctor.   
A soft throat clearing drew my attention back to Anya and I knew she was still waiting for an answer.  
“I don’t have a name,” I went for the truth and looked up at Anya. Her eyes had narrowed slightly, and I could tell she was suspicious from the slight indicators her body language was giving off. She hid her emotions and thoughts very well though.   
My gaze slid to Lexa, who’s only indication that this was surprising news, was that she had tilted her head slightly to the side.  
“What do you mean?” Anya’s voice was still stern but it seemed a bit sharper. Sharper, but not colder.  
I looked at her hard, wondering how much I should say when I decided that I liked her. She had beaten me shitless and wasn’t the friendliest person, but something about her seemed very real and I hadn’t experienced that in a person before. My head was still reeling from the fact that it had been a hundred years despite the freedom I had felt. I also felt the inescapable loneliness I felt in the facility, yet now it was ten times stronger. It made me want to reach out.  
However, I was still cautious. “In the facility, we were numbered, but we did not have names. They wanted to try and keep us as...” I struggled to articulate what I meant. “We were easier to control if we had no identity or even self knowledge.”  
The sad part was that it was true. When we felt we had nothing to fight for, not even ourselves, we become much easier to subdue. But that was over now, I reminded myself firmly. Who cares that I had basically slept a hundred years when it only felt like a few hours? I was free of the facility.   
“Then what’s your number?” Anya questioned.  
“Eight,” I replied.  
I was slightly startled when Lexa appeared near us. I was so used to the adults around me not being able to walk silently like I could that I hadn’t even noticed that these two did.   
“In this world you will need a name. Your name carries you and it can hold shame or power,” Lexa said.  
“You must choose a name,” Anya continued.  
I frowned. How was I supposed to choose a name? The entire concept was foreign; I didn’t even know what a good name was.  
I looked at Anya. If I was going to like her then she should be able to help me. At least, she might. I wasn’t really sure of how to interact with anyone.  
“You pick one,” I said. “I can’t just name myself. People don’t do that, do they?” I accused.  
The faintest smile curled at the edge of Anya’s lips and I realized how childish I sounded. It was hard not to groan.  
Anya looked to Lexa then rocked back on her heels. “She looks like a Nadia to me.”  
“It works,” replied Lexa.   
“Nadia,” I worked the strange name around my mouth before nodding.   
It was going to take some getting used to, being called by a name instead of a number, but I was sure it would work out.  
Lexa crossed to the tree next to the one I was tied to and resumed watching us. I shifted at my uncomfortable bindings, and I swear I could feel Lexa narrow her eyes even though I was looking at Anya.  
“How old are you?” Anya questioned.  
“Fourteen years,” I said, trying to make myself look older.  
Covered in bruises and tied up as I was I knew it was a failed effort long before Anya slight raised her eyebrow. I slumped a bit but straightened up as soon as I realized that that to would make me look childish.  
“What is the facility?” She continued.  
I froze and watched her for a trap. What did she want from me? Was she trying to trick me into giving her delicate information? Did I even know any delicate information?  
And then I realized that it had been a hundred years. I somehow knew it was the truth. The dense forest we were in, these people with their weapons and clothes and language. They were all indicators that a long time had passed. What could she do with any information I gave her anyway?  
“It was a training facility. There were a hundred of us. Fifty fighters like me and fifty... Experiments. Though they are trained to fight as well.” I said.  
“What were the experiments?” She asked.  
I shifted, uncomfortable. “The doctors did things to them...changed them. So that they could do things, things that normal people can’t do.”  
She gave me a look that said to continue, but I looked past her to where Lincoln stood guard, and past him to where the doctor woman, Abby, walked around camp. What if she heard this information and got ideas. I stiffened and decided not to say anything more on the subject.  
Anya followed my line of sight and seemed resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to say anymore. I once again shifted uncomfortably against my bindings. The ropes were beginning to cut into me a bit.  
Anya watched my movements before standing and gesturing to Lexa. They shared a few words in their language, and then Anya moved over to a nearby tree and sat down, seemingly getting comfortable. I realised she must be the first one to stand watch over me. It was a smart move on their part, considering the fight I had put up before. I don’t know why Anya’s presence was so soothing.  
Lexa crouched down in front of me, her red sash falling from her armour and pooling on the ground. “As much as I can understand you were afraid when you attacked us, these people see you as a threat. Tonight you will stay bound as a punishment for the trouble you have caused. Tomorrow, when we travel you will have only your hands bound and you will travel on either Anya or Lincoln’s horse with them.   
‘I will keep you from the doctor, and when we return to our separate camps she will be nowhere near us, and you will give us the answers we want. Do you understand?” She looked at me with those unwavering green eyes and something about them made me want to cause mischief just to see what would happen.   
I squashed that feeling down and instead nodded at her, resigning myself to a cold night tied to a tree. At least these women were separate to the doctor. It made me trust them more to see they weren’t too closely associated with this Abby woman.   
“Good, Nadia. I will see you when the sun rises.” She looked at me before reaching forward.  
I instantly stiffened and couldn’t help my lip curling back a bit; no one ever touched anyone unless they were going to inflict pain.  
She stilled her hand until I relaxed, and then continued to reach forward and grabbed the fur on my shoulder and wrapped it around my front as well.   
I remembered her words about sunrise and looked up and noticed the sun setting. Time had moved quickly, and I couldn’t help but think that this was the most painless interrogation I had ever been in.  
I looked back to Lexa and she nodded once at me before standing up and striding away. I couldn’t help but notice that she truly walked like a leader would.  
I heard a soft scraping noise and looked over to see Anya sharpening her sword. I blinked at her once and she merely looked straight back at me. I eventually settled into my fur and looked up at the sky. I found the constant rhythm of Anya sharpening her weapons comforting, and when the last glimmers of sunlight faded I looked up to the now dark sky.   
I felt my breath catch as I saw the stars. I had only ever seen them through an almost brown fog before, yet now they gleamed so brightly. How the world had recovered when humanity was wiped out.   
I slowly found myself falling asleep despite the chill and the uncomfortable position I was. Normally I would be scared to fall asleep with a potentially hostile stranger nearby, but I knew Anya would not hurt me. I also knew she would not let the doctor harm me.  
I don’t know how I knew, I just did.  
That night, I dreamed of many things. They all had the same feel to them though, the feeling of freedom. The feeling of being able to breathe, to actually live without the threat of the facility looming over me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw this is not edited 
> 
> I will edit when it is complete :)


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's a surprise

Chapter 3  
Nadia  
I woke to the sounds of a camp being roused. What looked like supplies and scrap metal were being loaded into to horse driven wagons and it was clear they were from the facility. I realised that there must have been a team that worked overnight to get it all in such a short time. I was torn away from my thoughts by the sound of a branch cracking.  
I snapped my head over and looked at the girl unwaveringly. She seemed slightly startled by the intensity of my gaze but recovered well. I guessed her to be older than me by two, maybe three years. Her eyes were smeared with ash like Anya, Lexa and Lincoln’s were but her movements as she stood, the way she checked her weapons belt, even the shift of her eyes assured me that she was new to the world of warriors. I could recognize it the same way I had seen it in the younger fighters at our facility.   
I knew it was still very early from the pink in the sky. My breath created little puffs of frost and my toes were a bit numb despite the wrappings on them. I wiggled them and contained a wince as they started to tingle with sensation.  
I looked back to the young woman guarding me. It was a bit disconcerting to know that I had not woken when she had swapped with whoever had watched me last. In fact, it was disconcerting to know I had not woken for any of the watch changes.   
Regardless, I narrowed my eyes at her, committing her face to memory. Something about her seemed to be slightly...cleaner then Anya and Lexa were. Perhaps she was transitioning.  
I finally looked away from her, instead watching the camp. I instantly located the doctor, and kept my eyes on her. I saw glimpses of Anya, Lincoln and Lexa but did not bother to track them. They were not currently threats. I did, however, keep my ears open in case the girl watching me got any ideas.  
The bindings around my waist, legs and hands were definitely biting into me now, but I ignored it. Yesterday I had been scared, disorientated and desperate for...companionship and it had made me weak.   
I remembered asking for a name when I was told I needed one, I remembered trusting Anya for no reason and I remembered Lexa’s eyes igniting a sense of mischief in me. I silently cursed myself, unable to believe how foolish I had been. It must have been the after effect of being in the ice so long.   
Yet even now when I thought of Anya I could not see her as a threat. I mean sure, she had already proven she was worth her salt and could kick some serious ass if needed, but if I didn’t cause trouble it shouldn’t be a problem. If I could make them trust me, eventually I would be able to slip away unseen.  
And go where? Asked that annoying voice in the back of my head, persistent in its goal to ruin all of my plans. The thing that stung was that that was the truth. As much as I could take care of myself in the wild, and had been trained to, I had no idea what this newly evolved planet held in store. The chance of getting myself killed by accident was high.   
I sighed softly, under my breath. Maybe I could stay with them for a while, see what they were like. It should be fine as long as they kept me away from the doctor and her cold hands.  
I broke my eyes away from the doctor when I saw two familiar figures brake away from camp and stride towards me. I heard sound from behind me and new the girl was moving. I flitted my eyes to once and found her pose non-threatening, and decided to keep an ear out for further movement whilst I watched Anya and Lexa approach me. I stiffened my spine. Today I would not be weak, nor would I be as forthcoming with information as I had been yesterday. Despite the calming presence Anya presented me with and the interesting aura surrounding Lexa, I had to be smarter.  
I tilted my chin up a bit and set my jaw, not realising that this made look like a stubborn child. I also did not know that this made both Anya and Lexa hold in a smile.   
“Good Morning, Nadia,” Lexa said.   
I did not reply, but tilted my head in response. The sound of my new name was oddly pleasing. It made me feel somewhat human.  
“You caused no disturbances in the night. This is good news. Today, we head back to our respective camps. As much as my home is further away, I will be staying in Anya’s village a while where you yourself will reside for now, under her careful watch,” She looked at me as she said this.  
I gazed back at her. I finally decided to take that as a warning, and not a threat. Her eyes were far too...alive for it to be a threat.   
“You will double up with Anya, and you will ride with your hands bound. Do not cause trouble, or you will walk the whole trip. If for some reason you cannot ride with Anya, you will ride with Lincoln. Do you understand?” Lexa asked me.  
I nodded tightly; considering how I was stuck in a situation I knew nothing about. Also, it was a hundred years in the future and I had no idea what radiation had done to the planet. A part of me was still coming to terms with that. Also, there was a slight worry for those who had been frozen and then taken, but I pushed it away. They could take care of themselves.  
Not while they’re frozen. There was that voice again. I ignored it, instead focusing on Lexa when she began to speak. I caught sight of Anya shifting her weight slightly in the background, and my ears picked up on the restless movement of the girl guarding me.   
Lexa’s voice was stern. “You will answer me with your words, Nadia.”  
I did not like the way she said that, speaking as if I was a small child. I answered perhaps a bit too tartly. “Of course, Lexa.”  
Her lips tightened and Anya’s eyes narrowed. I heard the girl behind me stop moving and her breathing quicken a bit. I remembered Lexa and Anya’s smart battle tactics and the way Lexa had slashed into all my unguarded spots with speed and ease, and felt a slight twinge of regret for my words. I refused to call it apprehension. A warrior such as me would not feel such a cowardly emotion. I repeated that in my head at least twice before meeting Lexa’s eyes.  
I instantly stiffened. Her gaze held a challenge. “Octavia, leave us.”  
The girl left instantly, uttering a soft, “Yes, Heda.”  
“You should not be disrespectful. Especially not in front of my people. This is the only warning you will receive.” She gave me another stern look and I suddenly felt younger than ever.   
I refused to look away from her intense gaze and did not reply, almost missing the tiniest quirk of Anya’s lips before her face became neutral again. Almost.  
When it became obvious I had no answer for her last comment, Lexa continued. “You should also address me by my title.”  
This was followed by a pointed look and I immediately lied, “I don’t know what your title is.”  
“Do not lie. You are perceptive; you would have picked it up by now. You may use either of the terms, whether spoken in my language or yours.” Her tone was unforgiving and I knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer.  
Not in the mood to submit, I merely put my chin up again and said nothing.  
“We will break within the hour. Do you have any questions?” Lexa asked, and we both knew she had caught me.  
I did not want to seem foolish and young for asking questions, but I also had things I was itching to know. Lexa knew this and so did I. I cursed her intelligence and tried to hold my tongue but ultimately failed.  
“What will I do once I reach Anya’s village?” I felt this was the most important question.  
“Anya can answer that,” Lexa watched my every move, much like I watched her and Anya.   
She reminded me of a predator, the same way I reminded myself of one. I felt my respect grow a bit and tried to ignore it as I turned my gaze upon Anya.  
She stepped forward, her coat giving a light swish as she stepped forward to stand in front of me. I refused to tilt my head up, instead straining my eyes to see her. I knew I would look less vulnerable this way. The binds itched and hurt, but this time I did not shift against them. I focused my attention on Anya.  
“In my village, we will teach you. You are already as good a warrior as the majority of my men, but I will hone your skill to make it better suited to the opponents you will face. You will learn basic healing arts, and you will give me any information I ask for, if you yourself know it.” Before I could protest the information bit, Anya ploughed on.   
“You will also be given a room in my home, a warm bed and food. The position you will be in will be similar to my second, or what you might call a one on one training relationship. However, you are still strange and foreign to us, a possible threat. Until we know for sure that we can trust you, you will not be my second.”  
She looked at me before finishing off her speech with, “Does this make sense to you?”  
I nodded and Lexa gave a soft cough. I remembered her words from earlier, about using my voice. I held in a small sigh.  
“Yes, Anya,” My voice was not nearly as curt as it had been before.   
Anya’s eyes had a strength to them that was not to be challenged. It was almost as if she could say with a single look that I am a child and I will do as she says. I didn’t like it, but at the same time there was a promise of being cared for if I was to be a child.  
A part of me liked that idea, the thought of being looked after. Another part of me rebelled against it, longing for freedom and independence.   
“Good,” Her voice was firm.  
Anya looked back to Lexa, and at her nod reached for me. I instantly stiffened and went to bear my teeth. I received a light rap on the head, curtsey of Anya’s knuckles.   
“You will not do that to either Lexa or me, understood?” I looked at her blankly before realising she meant baring my teeth.   
I went to nod, upset because I knew it would be a hard habit to break, before realising I was to use my words. “I understand,” I refused to believe my voice was anywhere near sulky.  
I also made the choice to ignore the slight quirk in Anya’s lips or the amused air that suddenly surrounded Lexa.  
I stiffened yet again when Anya reached me once more, and settled for a bit of lip curling. She gave me a look, one that said get your ass in line, and I was embarrassed when my first response was to behave. God, I was finally free and I was following rules?  
Anya made quick work of the bindings on my hands, and it took everything in me not to sigh in relief when the ropes were off. It was also hard work not to rub the angry red lines. I watched her mass of blonde brown hair slide over her head and shoulders as she bent to remove my ankle bindings. Finally she removed my waist bindings and I couldn’t help but roll my shoulders out after having been against the tree for so long.  
“Thanks,” I said softly, refusing to look at her face.  
“You are welcome, goufa,” She replied.  
“I am not a child!” I looked at her angrily.   
She raised an eyebrow and simply said, “You are not yet recognized as a tradesperson, healer or warrior of a clan. Therefore, you are a child.”  
I glared at her as my only response, stubbornly refusing to accept what she said.  
She just shook her head and muttered softly under her breath, probably cursing me. I looked her straight in the eye and she said, “You are very stubborn, perhaps even a bit headstrong. I will find training you amusing.”  
“I am trained,” I said.  
“Not enough,” was her simple reply.  
Before I could say anything in return Anya stood up and dusted off her knees before reaching and grabbing my forearm. I was so startled by the movement I didn’t stop her. Once I was standing I saw Lexa nod at Anya and stride away, back to the main camp.  
That’s where Anya then dragged me. As we went through the camp all of the curious faces were met with Anya’s glare. I could now clearly tell the difference between Anya’s people and the doctor’s people.  
I caught sight of Lexa talking to a blonde woman about her own age, and realized that she was also of the doctor’s people. It made me instantly dislike her, but when Lexa gave her hand a gentle touch I realized they were close. Perhaps even intimate. Maybe she was slightly ok.   
But when she looked at me and gave me a vicious glare for apparently no reason I glared back and found that my original dislike was well placed.  
Anya and I finally made it the destination she had in mind. It was a log with a few packs and a person sitting by them. She was a tough looking woman with dark brown skin, wicked scars and a tattoo adorning her face.  
I gazed at her curiously and deduced she was a warrior as she ignored me and greeted Anya. When she did finally look at me I could tell she was assessing how much of a threat I posed.  
“This is Indra. You will treat her with respect,” Anya did not give me time to answer before she was shoving me into the ground.  
I sat with a huff, wanting to disobey yet at the same time wanting her praise. I suppose this is what having no decent adults around for most of your life could do to you.  
I watched Anya curiously even as my body was alert for threats. She picked up a roll of bandage and a small jar of something.  
“Hands out,” She ordered.  
I did as she said and almost yelped when she smeared the slave inside the jar along the small cuts I had caused on my wrists from twisting against the rope.  
It stung but eventually cooled and eased the sting. Anya then firmly wrapped the bandages around them. I watched all this, and yet was somehow not quick enough to jerk away when she twisted a rope around them again.  
I struggled a little bit, but Anya snapped softly, “Enough!”  
I curiously did not want to disappoint her, so I obeyed. However, the feeling of wanting to create mischief was growing as well.  
It was then I noticed that the camp had almost been completely packed up. Anya led me by my binds to where a horse waited. It was a nice bay with a white blaze on its head. It snuffled to Anya in greeting and she rubbed its muzzle affectionately whilst murmuring a few things in her own strange language.   
She yanked me over and in a swift movement lifted herself onto its back. This created some awkward pulling on my binds considering the rope attached to my bound wrists. I glared at Anya but she merely yanked me into an ungraceful heap in the front of the saddle, before she shifted and rearranged me so I was sitting in front of her. I went to sit straight, but she yanked me back.  
“I won’t be able to see if you’re doing that. Rest your chin below me head.” Her voice was steady and commanding.  
I huffed at my rough treatment. Sure, the adults at the facility had done worse, but I wanted to see if these people were genuine about not hurting me.  
“What if I don’t want to?” I asked.  
Instantly I was cuffed over the head, and when I tensed to head butt her she pressed her thumb hard into a groove in my hip. I gasped in pain and she simply said, “I don’t care.”  
I let out a displeased sound but nonetheless settled back into her chest. I turned my face to the side and found my ear against Anya’s neck and the rest of my face buried in her fur collar. I could hear her heartbeat and it was very soothing. It made her seem so much more real.  
Lexa came into view and gave a few orders, and then we were on our way.  
I watched everything with obvious curiosity. I could feel the anxious and curious gazes of the people travelling with us. It was clear that I made the doctors people more nervous than I made Anya’s people. But after assessing them all for threats I ignored them, instead fascinated by my surroundings. I could practically feel Anya’s amusement.  
It was then that the doctor rode up, clearly uncomfortable on her horse, bouncing around like a newborn. I stiffened and went to snarl, sitting up completely straight. She had just enough time to shoot me a frightened yet determined look before Anya yanked me back into her chest, breathing into my ear, “Don’t even think about it, Nadia.”  
I found the use of my name soothing, but seeing the doctor was still frustrating. I struggled a little bit before Anya gave me another sharp cuff over my ear. This time I did snarl.  
“Nadia, behave!” This came from Lexa, and I turned my head towards where she was at the front of the pack quite sharply.   
This time there was no lightness or amusement in her green eyes. Only a promise of a punishment I would not like.  
Outnumbered and feeling pretty useless, I slumped against Anya, giving the doctor my most hate filled gaze. She stiffened, but then Lexa beckoned her and she moved up to speak with her.  
“Better,” Anya said softly.  
It was enough to slightly sooth my injured pride. Of course, it did nothing for my now stinging ear, I thought dryly. Oh well, I had had much worse.  
It was with that thought that many of my battle sustained injuries flared to life. I gritted my teeth and knew I would bare it rather than admit I need help and have that doctor touch me.  
I felt a tingling sensation and knew someone was looking at me. After gazing around I determined it was the blonde who had been speaking with Lexa earlier. She was in fact, glaring at me. I scowled slightly as she moved her horse alongside the doctor and Lexa.   
I watched her back for a moment before dismissing her. She was not important.   
With injuries catching up on me fast, I felt fatigue take over despite the sleep I had had. Hell, despite the one hundred year sleep I had had.   
I knew I was hungry, but also knew it could wait.  
My head shifted and I found the same spot from before, Anya’s fur collar making a pillow and her heart beating a steady rhythm against my ear. It was unsurprisingly not long before I fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave comments guys\  
> comments fuel my writing


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
Anya  
Anya kept her horse at a steady walk as the strange, once frozen girl lay back against her. She felt a tinge of amusement at the sulky air she surrounded herself in. Despite Nadia’s protests, Anya knew she was just a child.   
Anya felt a pang of sadness thinking of her last second, Tris. But then she gazed at her first second. Lexa rode her horse ahead of her and Anya was to her right, Indra at her left. She had grown into something quite spectacular.  
She felt Nadia shift and knew that she would either grow restless or fall asleep. She had to admit, the young girl intrigued her. There was so much she wanted to know about where this strange girl had come from, who she was and how she was trained, but Lexa had warned her to wait. The girl would tell them nothing if she didn’t trust them, but also would not answer their questions if she did not respect their authority. It made for an interesting relationship.  
She had already noticed that Nadia was soothed by rhythm. From the way the sound of her sharpening her sword had lulled her to sleep last night and the way she now seemed at ease listening to Anya’s heartbeat.   
They rode for a few hours, and Anya knew that soon they would stop for their midday meal. It was a five day trek back to their homes and Anya knew Lexa would keep breaks short as not to waste time.  
She felt the girl shift in front of her, and all of a sudden she bent her head back in the unnatural way only the very flexible and the young could do. Her forehead pressed against Anya’s chin and every now and then bumped it with the horse’s gait. Anya shifted her head downwards slightly and raised an eyebrow in silent askance, easily recognizing the curious look in the girl’s eyes.  
“Who is she?” Nadia asked softly.  
“She? Perhaps a hint of whom your referring, Nadia,” Her voice was slightly chiding, and she did not appreciate the slight eye roll Nadia gave in response.  
She gave her ear a hard tug in response, and Nadia shot her a small glare before gesturing with her head to Clarke. “Her, the blonde. She keeps glaring at me, and I don’t know why,” She did not seem upset, but rather confused.  
“Maybe because you attacked her mother, goufa.” She saw the look of understanding hit Nadia’s face just as her annoyance at being called a child became evident.  
She huffed and simply said, “You don’t understand.”  
“I could, if you explained,” Anya answered evenly.  
Nadia just shook her head and looked back to Clarke. Anya was relieved that her face only held mild dislike, nothing like the hatred she saw when she look at Abby.  
Anya had to admit, she was looking forward to training this one. She was young, yet she was highly skilled. Anya knew that the only advantage she had against her was years of real life experience. Nadia had already learnt that acting savage would not bother her or her people, not like it would the sky people.  
As the day wore on and the girl drifted in and out of sleep. At one point, Abby drifted near them to speak to Indra, and the girl stiffened. Anya decided to reprimand her more gently this time. She began to tap a stead rhythm against the girl’s neck. It soothed her, even though they both knew it was also a strategic position in case she lunged for Abby.  
But after a while Abby returned to her place in the procession, safely behind them and out of sight. As soon as the girl realised the implications of not being able to see her enemy she stiffened. Anya sighed and continued the rhythm until she settled again. Unable to stop herself, she smoothed back the girls black hair.  
Stop that, she scolded herself. She always let herself get too attached to her seconds, and it had done her no good. As proud as she was of Lexa, it still hurt to let her go, to become the commander their people needed. And Tris...  
You’re being ridiculous. Love is weakness. Nadia isn’t even your second.   
Yet, she thought dryly. Not yet. Surely if Indra could have the sky girl she could have the frozen girl. It made plenty of sense to her.  
Anya was able to pinpoint the exact moment that the girl fell asleep. Her breathing deepened and she finally fully relaxed into Anya’s grip.  
They rode on in silence for a while, yet she could still feel the restlessness and questions brimming within the doctor. She had questions herself, as it was not everyday a girl thawed out of the ice and attacked you, however she saw the wisdom in her Heda’s words. She could only hope the doctor would to.  
Thinking of the doctor, Anya felt a strange surge of protectiveness for the girl. She remembered the way the girl had been tense and ready for battle, but hadn’t attacked until Abby had indeed confirmed herself as a doctor. She also remembered Lincoln’s report of him being suspicious to her being awake, yet how she had only given herself away when Abby mentioned samples.  
She contained a smile at the thought of Lincoln. He was an excellent spy, scout, healer and warrior and only a few years her junior. He was also incredibly observant of small details as a spy had to be, and that was probably why he had suspected Nadia’s wakefulness earlier on.  
After a little more riding they came across a place suitable to stop for lunch. Lexa gave orders to be quick, and so no fire was made. Soon, there were guards posted by the supply wagons and dried meat and hard cheese was being passed around.  
Anya had dismounted her horse and Nadia had woken in the process. She watched her blink and look around, saw the slightest panic when she registered that Anya was not there and then saw that panic go away when she saw Anya next to her, holding the reins.  
“Down,” was all Anya said.  
Despite the girls bound hands she got to the ground nimbly. Anya realized she must have been trained to ride on horseback at some point.   
Nadia spun to look at her, the badly fitting clothes sagging and a fierce glare on her face. Anya cuffed her over the ear for that look alone. She would not tolerate insolence.  
The girl let out a soft snarl and lashed out with a particularly vicious kick. Anya twisted slightly so it did not hit as bad, but it clipped her calf and she knew it would bruise.  
Well aware Lexa was watching Anya knew she had to get it through to this girl who was in charge here. She grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and dragged her close, near enough that their eyes were only inches apart. The only indication of the girls surprise was a slight widening of her eyes.  
Anya made sure her own eyes held a promise of violence, “Try that again. I dare you, girl.”  
The girl had the slightest intake of breath, but she otherwise remained still.  
“Good,” Anya said, nodding to herself.  
She grabbed the girl’s bindings and dragged her behind her as she nodded to one of the trainee warriors to care for her horse. She raised a slight eyebrow at Lexa before looking at Abby. Lexa gave the slightest of nods. She would keep the doctor from bothering them.  
“I will feed you, and you will answer my questions,” Anya said, picking up a small bundle of food on the way.  
She shoved Nadia down by the tree roots before sitting down across from her.   
She placed one strip of meat in the girl’s hands and a small chunk of the hard cheese. The girl moved awkwardly with her hands bound but ate it nonetheless, shooting the occasional shy glance at Anya.  
This girl was dumbfounding. Nadia went from compliant and sleepy to angry and kicking to shy and meek all in one day. It was almost as if she had never been around people before.  
Anya paused and thought, maybe she hasn’t. After all, she didn’t even have a name.  
When the girl finished her strip of meat and began to nibble on her cheese, Anya decided to ask some very basic questions. Lexa’s warning was in her mind and she knew she had to tread carefully with the girl, especially with how unstable she was right now.  
”Nadia, how old are you?” A simple, easy question.  
Yet still she got that untrusting gaze in return. There was a pause and Anya thought she wasn’t going to reply, but then she did.  
“I am fourteen years old,” She said softly, watching Anya’s every movement.   
“A child then,” Anya stated.  
“I am no child,” The girl muttered, slightly sullen.  
She seemed to realize that this made her seem even younger because she wiped all expression off of her face a few seconds later.  
“Why are you so under developed for your age? You are tall, yet hardly grown,” Another easy question.  
The wait was longer, but Nadia did answer. “They gave us medication to help control emotion. I overhead doctors say that delaying growth and some other things I can’t really remember were side effects.”  
Anya felt a surge of anger at the fear in the girl’s voice but did not let it show. She could already tell the girl would hate anything that resembled pity.  
“Why are you hairless?” It seemed like an odd question, but Anya wanted to know.  
The girl blanched a bit, blinking and gazing at her smooth arms. She seemed to chew on her answer for a few moments and Anya took the chance to give her some more food even as she ate her own. She knew the girl must be starving, yet she showed excellent self control.  
After another minute, Anya shifted slightly to let the girl know she was still waiting.  
Nadia looked up and finally answered, “Well, it was a treatment they gave us. It hurt a bit but got rid of all of the hair. Permanently. They did it at the time when they wanted to use us in the promotional war videos and stuff, so we had to look good and up to date with society’s standards. At least that’s what the film man said.”  
Anya looked at her sensing there was more. The girl gave the littlest sigh before continuing.  
“They soon realized we were too volatile to be outside for the promos. That’s why they stopped sending us on missions, too. I think they were just waiting for the perfect time to send us to fight in the war. “  
The last question Anya wanted to ask, why do you fear the doctor? Would have to wait. She could see Nadia was not ready.  
She instead passed her some more food and said, “That is enough for today.”  
The girl gave an obvious sigh of relief. Anya smirked slightly at her amusing emotional changes before reaching out and giving her a pat on the head. Nadia flinched but then relaxed and Anya held her hand there for a second before letting go.  
Soon enough they were back on the horse and riding again. The girl seemed content to watch their surroundings, but Anya was sure to keep the doctor out of her line of sight.  
Nadia’s attention seemed to remain fixed instead on Clarke, Lexa, Lincoln and Lexa with Clarke. Anya could practically sense her picking them all apart in her head, trying to get answers and profiles on them. She stifled a smile. The girl was smart.  
She caught Lexa’s eye at one point and gave a slight nod. Lexa inclined her head before looking away.  
They both knew that later that night Anya would report to Lexa everything she had learnt, everything she had asked.   
For now they would just continue to ride, hopefully in silence.  
She looked at the head of the girl in front of her and thought of how enamoured she became whenever she saw something new, sometimes leaning almost out of her seat to get a better look.  
Anya shook her head thinking, this trip might not be as quiet as I hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to leave your thoughts on the story here in the comments


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
Nadia  
It was our second day of travel and the bandages and salve on my hands was beginning to itch. I of course said nothing, knowing that I would be able to persevere it.  
Last night when we made camp, Anya had left me as far away from the doctor as possible under Lincoln’s careful watch. The dark haired girl form before stayed as well and I soon learnt that her name was Octavia. She seemed to be intimate on some level with Lincoln.   
I had followed Anya with my eyes and watched as she disappeared into the commander’s tent. It was nothing to grand as it had to be portable for this short pace of time, but it was still roomier then the other tents.  
I was brought back to reality by the sharp pang of hunger in my stomach. I had passed out last night before dinner was served and we skipped breakfast today in favour of moving faster.  
I sat back against Anya with a huff. The horse moved in a fast walk beneath us.   
“What is wrong, Nadia?” Anya’s voice demanded an answer.  
“Nothing,” I responded automatically.  
My hair, by now a wild tangled mess, received a sharp tug from Anya. I let out a growl and she simply said, “You will not lie to me.”  
“But I’m fine!” I said, exasperated.  
I looked to the sky and noted that it was almost midday. We would stop for lunch soon anyway.  
Anya merely stilled behind me. I bent my head back so that my forehead brushed against her chin. She did not look at me, merely keeping her eyes ahead.  
“Anya?” I asked, a bit of worry seeping in.  
Anya was the only person I liked. Sure, I didn’t mind Lexa and Lincoln and possibly Octavia but I liked Anya.  
I didn’t want to make her stop talking to me but I also didn’t want to seem weak.  
“Anya!” This time she looked down at me, a cool indifference in her eyes.  
“If you do not speak truly to me there is no point in us conversing,” She stated.  
“Anya...” I trailed off, realizing how dangerously close to a whine that had sounded.  
No whining. You are a soldier.   
“I have been tasked with your care. How can I complete this job if you do not tell me what is wrong?” She continued.   
Tasked with my care? Ouch. So I guess the feeling of liking her was not mutual. I felt my shoulders hunch a bit but just couldn’t stop them. I had never really had even a shred of a semblance of a friendly relationship with someone, but I knew that it hurt now to be... disregarded like this.  
Did Anya not care for me at all? She always seemed content to listen to my answers to her questions, and she often was amused by me. I could tell that by her eyes.  
But what if she is laughing at you? I pushed the voice away again.  
Another hunger pang hit me again and I curled up a bit more. I couldn’t even wrap my arms around myself with the bindings in place.  
Anya let out a soft sigh, shifting a bit. I peeked at her arms that caged me in as she held the reins and watched them flex. She was obviously very strong.  
I let my hair fall in to the front of my face. I had reason to believe maybe I was sulking a bit, as the generals at the facility would have said, but I decided that no, I wasn’t. I was just... withdrawing myself to protect my better interests.   
Anya’s hands moved, and suddenly she switched the reins to one hand. I tensed as soon as it drew towards me, certain I was in for serious pain after being so insubordinate. After all, a cuff on the ear here and there was nothing compared to what I am sure she could do.  
Instead her hand pressed firmly against my collarbone, startling me as I was pushed back so I was once again leaning against her. I found a lot of comfort in this position but I was still worried about her reaction.  
Anya said softly by my ear, “You are an interesting child, Nadia. Behave, don’t lie to me and answer my questions, and I will look after you. Understand?”  
I huffed out a sigh, feeling safe enough that I didn’t care if for a second I was portrayed as weak.  
A much gentler tug on my hair this time, “Understand?”  
“Yes, Anya,” I felt like this was a step towards her not being mad at me.  
“Good. Now, tell me what’s wrong,” She demanded.  
I turned my head into her jacket and let out a soft groan. I really didn’t want to seem so pathetic, especially not in front of Anya who was so tough.   
“Fimehuhngrary,” I mumbled into her jacket.  
I peeked up at her and she raised an eyebrow. I pushed my face back into her jacket and said a bit clearer, “I’m just a bit hungry.”  
I tried to not look at Anya, actually feeling a bit of fear for admitting I needed something. In the facility you got what you were given and you dealt.  
Instead Anya grabbed my hair and gently tugged until I was looking at her, forcing me to twist my body slightly. There was a tiny smirk on the corner of her lips.  
“Now, that wasn’t so hard was it?” She said, clearly amused.  
“It’s not funny Anya,” I frowned at her before realizing that for this entire interaction I had been showing all of my emotions.  
I automatically went to shut down my facial features when Anya stopped me with a look. “You can trust me, Nadia.”  
I felt as if I was suddenly a bit warmer for that comment, but then my stomach gave a rather loud rumble and ruined the moment. Anya let out a chuckle and reached into the saddlebag. She pushed a nice red apple into my hands and said, “Eat this, goufa.”   
I immediately took a big bite out of the apple and hummed in contentment.   
“This should tide you over until we stop for lunch, hmm?” Anya asked.  
I just nodded in response. Anya resettled us so that I was once again leaning into her front, my head just below chin level. Her fingers drummed a steady rhythm against my hand and I let m and I let myself just relax and watch the scenery.  
I ate the apple with my spare hand and absently threw the core to the ground. We rode for maybe another hour before reaching a place Lexa deemed suitable for lunch.  
“We’ve made very good time,” Lexa informed the small group. “Some of the warriors and I are going to hunt for a decent meal, so start a cook fire. However, don’t expect anything fancy for dinner tonight.”  
I could have smiled with delight at the thought of cooked meat. I mean, I didn’t but I could’ve. I got off of the horse and looked at Anya expectantly. She would normally lead me off to some tree and ask me questions while she fed me.  
I heard the slightest crunching of leaves behind me and spun, tense and ready. I relaxed when I saw it was just Lexa, eyebrow slightly raised at my defensive posture.  
“Nadia, I will be leaving with Anya, Lincoln and Indra to hunt. Octavia and Clarke will also accompany us as they are learning. This means you will be left with Cage of the Sky People and Ryder guarding you. You are to behave, understand?” She asked me.  
I deliberated for a half a second, the desire to cause mischief stirring to life inside me. But then I saw Lexa’s eyes and practically sensed Anya’s commanding posture behind me and realized that today was not the day for that sort of thing.  
I gave her my gravest nod, and the slightest bit of amusement trickled into her eyes before she was stone faced yet again. I wish I was that good at stone face.  
Ryder came over and grabbed me by the arm, tugging me to, you guessed it, a tree. He pushed me down in front of it, before taking up post to my left. The man who was of... What had Lexa called it? The Sky People, that’s what it was, stood off to my right.  
I bristled at having guards but did not protest. Anya and Lexa would both see that I did indeed know how to behave, thank you very much. They always seemed slight sceptical of that fact.  
Everything was going well until twenty minutes later Abby approached. I instantly felt a shot of panic, especially since both Anya and Lexa were gone. Ryder looked at her with mild alarm and curiosity. She spoke quietly to Cane and I struggled to hear, catching only a few bits and pieces.   
“Just a few minutes Marcus... This is important... Think of our people... Just a few questions.” She gave the man this... big eyed look and I could see him soften.  
As I realised that Cane was not indeed going to stop her from coming near me I slipped into predator mode, totally ready to defend myself.  
I tensed as she stepped closer and I swear Ryder did to. I bared my teeth at her and snarled. I was thoroughly satisfied when a look of alarm crossed her face and she took a small step back. I caught Ryder’s eye and I could see the warning in them.  
At that, I remembered Lexa’s words to me. Behave. And I did want to prove I could. Still wary, I closed my mouth and let my shoulders relax a bit.  
The doctor looked at me for a long moment before crouching down in front of me. I barely held in my frustrated groan. Couldn’t she just go away?!  
She opened her mouth and said, “Look, Nadia,” She must have seen the intense look of dislike I gave her when she said my name because she stopped and started again.  
“Look, I know we got off to the wrong foot, but I think we can make amends. You could be the key in helping my people thrive.” She gave me a pleading look but I didn’t care.  
She sounded like a typical doctor, trying to soothe me before she sent me to the torture house. “I don’t care,” I said hoarsely.  
“Excuse me?” She asked, her tone a tad too sharp for my liking.  
Behave. Behave. Behave.  
I took a small breath before saying, “I don’t care whether you and your people thrive or not. I will not let you touch me.”  
“These are the words of a typical child.” She smiled at me irritatingly.   
“But I have cared for children for many years, and I know you will change your mind when you see the good you can do.” I felt my blood boil a bit at her assumptions.   
And then she reached out and patted my cheek. And that was her mistake. She had gotten far too comfortable.  
I snatched out with my teeth and caught two of her fingers, biting until I felt blood. She gave a shriek and I would have bitten them off if not for the butt of Ryder’s weapon knocking into my ribs.  
I rolled to my feet and severed the ropes holding my hands together on the edge of Ryder’s now conveniently placed dagger.  
In the same movement I threw a high kick into the doctors face, sending her scrambling backwards. I heard Ryder’s weapon swing for me, and ducked just as it swung over my head. The weapon was positioned so it would have hit me on the flat of it, probably knocking me out.  
I put my weight on my arms and kicked Ryder’s feet out from underneath him. People were gathered around our corner now and the doctor was shrieking.  
“You little monster!” She snarled.  
I answered with a snarl of my own, tackling her around the waist and punching her in the face twice, hard. How dare she try to use me as an experiment and then call me the monster?!  
And then pain exploded in my back. I gasped at the pure agony of it and let out a strangled cry. I recovered as quickly as I could, spinning around and glaring at Cane who now held what appeared to be a shock rod in his hand. I wrested it out of his hands by the handle and landed a punch square on his nose just as a booming voice yelled out, “Enough!”  
Everyone froze, myself included. Indra and Anya flanked Lexa, all of them with dark, angry eyes as they strode forward. Octavia and Lincoln walked into the clearing, both holding an end of the stick that had a small deer tied to it, along with a few pheasants.   
Clarke meanwhile was rushing to her mother’s side, shooting me a look heavy with accusation. I guess any chance of us being friends was gone now.  
I felt a ripple of fear at what would happen to me now, though I didn’t let it show. I was more scared Anya would never talk to me again then I was that Lexa would hurt me.  
I released Cane’s shirt and took a step backwards. Lexa followed the movement with her eyes before saying, “What happened?”  
I didn’t bother to defend myself. It was clear I was screwed.   
Ryder spoke first, “Heda, Abby approached Cane and asked leave to speak with the girl. Cane granted it and things escalated quickly. She did hold back at first, though.” Ryder informed Lexa and the crowed. I avoided Anya’s eyes as I looked at the grass, my back singing in agony.  
“I thought I was very clear when I said to not let the doctor near her?” Lexa’s voice was sharp and I couldn’t help but look up at her.  
A few feet away and she looked as fierce as a whole battalion of soldiers put into one body. I felt a surge of respect for her when I realized she had tried to make sure I would be happy and away from the doctor.  
Before either of the men could speak Lexa stated, “You will report to me in my tent when we set up camp tonight.”  
“Anya, take her to the stream and see to her wounds. I also want the full story, understand?” Anya nodded and started for me and I looked away, not quite willing to meet her eyes. She had a satchel in one hand and she reached for my arm with the other.   
She had a satchel in one hand and she reached for my arm with the other.   
Before we could leave, Clarke called out from her mother’s side, “Lexa, are you really going to let this slide? She attacked my mother!”  
“I warned Abby and I warned the guards. We all know how she responds to Abby’s presence. She was provoked, and that is that.” I couldn’t believe Lexa was sticking up for me but it was a good feeling.  
I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation because Anya was dragging me through the woods. My back was in agony from the shock rod but I grit my teeth. I’d been frozen for nearly a hundred years; surely I could handle a small burn.  
Small rocks dug into my now filthy bandaged feet, and I worked not to wince at all.  
We eventually reached the stream and Anya sat me down across from her. I blurted out before I could stop myself, “Are you mad?”  
She smiled a little bit at me before saying, “No, I’m not mad. I agree with Lexa.”  
I loosed a sigh of relief without even realizing it. Anya glanced at my wrists, bare now except for the bandages that covered the salve.   
Dryly she said, “I guess those ropes were useless then.”  
I looked away, feeling a bit sheepish.  
She just shook her head softly before reaching for my wrists. She pulled off the bandages and cleaned off the salve before reapplying and putting on fresh bandages. She changed the bandages on my feet for clean ones after making me wash my feet in the stream water. Then she wiped my face down with a cool, damp cloth. The whole process, although painful, was quite soothing.  
However, the fiery pain in my back was not to be ignored. Anya made me turn around and pull my shirt off, though I still held it to my chest since I had not yet acquired a breast band (not that I needed one).  
Anya asked me to tell her what happened, and in between hisses of pain as she cleaned and bandaged the wound I did. At the end I put on my shirt and she helped me clamour to my feet.  
“What now?” I asked, almost feeling a bit shy.  
Anya looked at me, “Now we go back to camp, and we feed you a decent meal so you don’t eat all my apples!”  
“I only ate one!” I exclaimed in protest as Anya once again took my arm and started to lead us back to camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the line breaks are a bit close, AO3 was a bit of a pain on that one... will go through and fix it later


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
Lexa  
Lexa watched Anya lead Nadia away. Nadia, of course, would need to be disciplined somehow. Otherwise, she would never learn that not all problems, even among the Trikru, could be resolved through violence.   
She turned her gaze upon Clarke and her mother, Abby. Despite the tenderness she felt for Clarke there was no way she could go easy on Abby and Kane, since they had disobeyed direct orders. However, they could not be punished the same way Ryder would be, since they were not Trikru.   
She raised her voice so everyone could hear and said, “As punishment for this Abby and Kane of the Sky People will be barred from Ton D.C. and the Deep Wood village until further notice. Ryder will receive five unblocked blows at sundown. Nadia will walk for the rest of today.”  
No one dared breathe. Clarke got to her feet and gave her an intense gaze and she motioned with her chin to follow her as she moved into the woods. As she exited the clearing she called out, “Get the deer cooking. We don’t have all day!”  
Once they were deep enough in the woods Lexa stopped and spun around to face Clarke. Clarke sucked in a big breath and Lexa prepared herself for the oncoming barrage of words.  
“How could you do this Lexa?! This is the second time she has attacked my mother! And now you’re banning her from Ton D.C. and Deep Wood? And that girl only has to suffer is a half a day of waking?” She exploded.  
Lexa calmly replied, “These punishments were mild. I said to keep Abby away from the girl and they did not. I told Abby to stay away and she did not. Nadia will spend half a day walking without proper boots, only bandaged feet. I will also be having words with her.”  
Lexa sighed at the fire in Clarkes eyes. She stepped forward and grabbed her chin, the words ‘I’m not ready’ ringing in her mind.  
“Clarke, I know she is your mother but this is necessary. I am the Commander. I must enforce my rules.” She looked into Clarke’s crystal blue eyes.  
She could see her struggling but Lexa could pinpoint the exact moment Clarke gave into her logic. Those blue eyes softened and Lexa moved her hand so it was cradling Clarke’s cheek.  
“I don’t like it,” Clarke said finally.  
“We must make sacrifices for order,” Lexa replied.  
Lexa could see that Clarke did not really agree but was pleased when she felt the subject drop. Lexa was pleased even further when Clarke leaned into her hand, her own hand coming up to lie against Lexa’s.  
They stayed like that for a while before Lexa finally breaks the silence. “I must see to my people.”  
“I suppose I should as well. My mum is probably worried.” She commented.  
“Is she worried about what dastardly things I might be doing to you?” Lexa stepped close enough that their noses brushed.  
Clarke’s eyes widened comically and she sputtered, “L-lexa!”  
Lexa gave her the slightest smile before she spun and strode back to camp, feeling very satisfied. Clarke may not be ready for a relationship but it was good to remind her that she was what Clarke wanted.  
As she returned to camp she smelt the roasting deer and pheasants and her own stomach growled. She had seen Anya give Nadia an apple and knew the girl would be hungry, especially after sleeping through dinner. She made a side not to either wake the girl up or save her dinner from now on.   
She gently rested her hand atop the bruise on her hip and considered her now bruised face, though it was mostly covered by ash now. The same could not be said for Anya’s bruised and cut forehead and broken nose.  
She was pleased by the girl’s obvious tolerance for pain, as she had shown no signs of discomfort except when jostled.  
However, spending the rest of the day walking may change that. Her face was sporting an array of bruises, and she now had the electrical burn and a few cuts, courtesy of Lexa’s own sword.  
She seated herself before the fire near Indra and sensed her restlessness.   
“What is wrong Indra? Speak true.” Lexa asked, looking at her with the firelight playing off both of their skin.  
“This girl... Is she more trouble then she is worth?” Indra looked at her.  
“I have considered this. But if we leave her the sky people will take her, and as much as the hospital with Mount Weather’s equipment is communal, I don’t trust them. Its better not give them another advantage.” Lexa replied in an even voice.  
Indra just nodded her acceptance of Lexa’s verdict and that was that. She looked up just as Anya entered the clearing with Nadia and she could tell that Nadia’s wounds, whether they be the old ones or the new ones were bothering her.  
She hid it well, but Lexa was very observant. She could understand why the girl tried to hide so much. Training to be a warrior made you learn how to control yourself and these things.  
Anya quickly made her way over to them and when they were seated Lexa turned so she was facing Nadia.  
“Nadia. I understand you were provoked, but Abby is no warrior and no challenge was issued so this violence was inexcusable. You will be punished along with them. For the rest of today, you will walk by Anya’s horse, not ride with her. This punishment is mild, so consider this a warning.” She kept her eyes cool and her voice firm.  
She saw that spark rise up in the girl’s eyes and knew she really wanted to cause trouble on some level. It was a common trait to find in children.  
However, the girl was stronger than most teenagers and Lexa watched as she squashed that down and said gravely, “Yes, Lexa.”  
Lexa inclined her head lightly.   
Perhaps she would have started a conversation with Anya but then one of the men tending the fire yelled out, “It’s cooked!”  
“I’ll get you some Nadia,” Anya said, getting up with Lexa.  
Lexa inclined her head to Indra and then looked at Nadia, who was trying to discreetly itch the cut Lexa had opened up on her calf. Indra nodded.  
The cut had been shallow enough it did not need to be stitched or even bandaged as it had clotted quickly. The same had gone for her other cuts; Lexa had not been trying to maim her, after all.  
Lexa considered her for a second before reaching over and knocking her hand away from the cut. She did not miss the way the girl tensed up before her hand made contact.  
She looked up at her with big hazel eyes.   
“Leave the wound alone so it may heal,” Lexa ordered her.  
She felt a slight surge of irritation when the girl scowled, and she banged her knuckles gently against her forehead. The scowl dropped and the girl just gave her an almost sad look before she retreated behind that mask again. Lexa shook her head and gave her a pat on the head, ignoring the slight flinch of the girl.  
She got to her feet and made her way to the fire with Anya, securing some large chunks of meat for both herself and Indra. Anya did the same, picking some up for Nadia. They also grabbed two pheasants, figuring they could half them between them.  
They made their way back and Anya sat down next to Nadia. Lexa took her place next to Indra. Indra, Anya and herself began to discuss their plans for the trip back. After today they would another three days and Lexa wanted to keep at the pace they were going. She had the brief thought it would be hard on Nadia’s feet and injuries but pushed the thought away. She must learn.  
She ate her meat at a steady pace despite the fact she must still be hungry. She did not make any comments towards the conversation but rather studied them, and Lexa knew the girl was collecting as much information as she could about them.  
It was only a few minutes after the girl had finished her share of the pheasant that she fell asleep, leaning heavily against Anya. Anya spared her a glance but did not push her off before continuing her conversation with Indra. Lexa opted to just observe the girl for a minute.  
Eventually she turned to Anya and said, “Report.”  
So Anya began, “Basically, Kane did not stop Abby from approaching. She mostly behaved herself until Abby patronized her and petted her on the cheek. Then she tried to bite her fingers off. When Ryder stopped her she cut her bindings on his blade, kicked Ryder down and planted a high kick into Abby’s face, before launching herself at her. That’s when Kane stepped in with the shock rod.”  
Lexa nodded and then commented, “Make sure to tie her bindings more tightly. It will be harder to cut through them if her wrists are pressed to closely together.”  
Anya simply nodded at her. She was close enough to Lexa that often words were not required.  
Lexa looked across the camp to where Clarke, beautiful with gleaming hair in the midday light crouched next to her mother. She watched as she wiped the last of the blood off of her mother’s face. It was odd to think that as much as the Skaikru claimed Abby to be Chancellor, they all truly followed Clark.  
Lexa shook herself out of her thoughts and turned to Anya.  
“Wake her up. We need to pack up camp and set off.”


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
Nadia  
I was shaken awake by Anya. I blinked twice and then looked at her, finding it hard to believe I had just fallen asleep on her. I let out a small yawn and she tugged me to my feet.   
In a few swift moments she had my wrists tied much tighter than they were before. I tugged at them experimentally and received a raised eyebrow in return. I looked away, sheepish.  
“You will behave,” She said giving me a stern look.  
“Yes,” I huffed out.  
She just gave me a warning look and dragged me over to her horse. She mounted and gave me just enough length of the rope so that I could walk beside her without being trod on by the horse. We started off on at a fast walk and I had to move my legs quite quickly to keep up.  
As the wounds all over my body began to ache, the cut on my calf itching and the burn on my back burning in intense agony I felt a new appreciation for the horse.  
At least I only have to walk for half a day.  
Sweat beaded on my forehead and I gritted my teeth at the pain. I had suffered much worse before, and as much as it still hurt I was willing to ignore the pain. I would not look weak, especially not in front of the strange ‘Skaikru’ or Lexa’s strong people, the Trikru.  
The march continued on and gratefully the doctor stayed far from me. My wounds were truly hurting now and it took everything in me to walk without limping. The bruises on my face ached and the burn on my back was an absolute mess of pain. My calf itched and the cut Lexa had given me on my shoulder stung as well.  
When my shirt brushed against my burn the wrong way, despite the bandages it sent a jolt of pain through me. I clamped my teeth down on my lower lip to stop from making any noise and subtly adjusted myself so the shirt sat differently. I didn’t see the look Anya shot me.  
I could just see the man, Kane, riding on the far right side of the group. I shot his back a venomous look, blaming him for my suffering.  
I received a yank on my binds and Anya gave me a look that said best behaviour brat. Don’t get any ideas.  
I glowered at her in return and she merely raised an eyebrow.   
I huffed slightly and turned facing the front of the progression, immediately hunching back over when it pained my back to much. I sighed and continued walking.  
~~~  
It was about three hours later that we finally made our way into a clearing to set up camp for the night. Anya dismounted and handed her horse off to one of the younger warriors after giving it a pat on the nose. She turned to me and I gave her a slightly proud look. After all, I didn’t make a noise that entire trip.  
She just stared back at me impassively but I had the feeling I had amused her. This speculation proved to be true when she ruffled my hair as she walked past, tugging on the bindings to get me to follow and aggravating the wounds on my wrists at the same time.  
I poked my tongue out at her back as we walked but instantly regretted it when I noticed not only Lexa but also Indra watching us. I scowled at them and received a blank stare from Indra and a slightly raised eyebrow from Lexa.  
What is with these people and raising their eyebrows?  
I looked away from them when I realized I was once again acting childish. Damn. I had been doing pretty well today. Well, I guess I had actually been doing pretty well this afternoon, considering the morning incident. I still felt slightly remorseful I hadn’t taken off that doctor’s fingers.   
I knew that deep down she may actually resemble a human being. I knew that, yet I also knew that like all doctors she would put her love of science first and foremost and thus she would not stop trying to harm me or any others like me in her pursuit of knowledge. And that made her into the ultimate enemy.   
Speaking of Abby the Doctor, we passed her just as we were about to leave the clearing. She gave me a particularly harsh look and I considered lunging at her but at that very moment Anya gave a very powerful tug on the rope connecting me to her and I stumbled, almost falling into her back. This time I couldn’t control the small gasp that left my lips as my back rippled in pain. I immediately felt ashamed I had let such weakness show.  
However, Anya merely turned and looked at me. She then looked at Abby and said, “No.”  
I considered her stern tone and just nodded, perhaps a bit sullenly. I was surprised when she just led me into the woods and didn’t comment on me not using my voice. Maybe she was taking pity on me because of my wounds.  
A part of me softened a bit at that, enjoying the nice treatment... But the rest of me bristled with resentment at the thought that I might be perceived as a weakling in need of pity.  
If Anya noticed any of these mood changes in me she hid it well as she indicated for me to sit down on a rock. She removed my wrist bindings first and reapplied the salve and put on fresh bandages. There was that stinging sensation, not as bad as the day before and then there was the relief that the salve brought.  
She checked the cuts delivered by Lexa and seemed pleased by how they were healing. They wound on my leg was scabbed over and the one on my shoulder was on its way there. Lexa was indeed a skilled warrior if she had managed to deliberately make the cuts shallow. There was also a multitude of scrapes and bruises on my body that she just left alone.  
Then we got to the part that I was dreading. I turned around and pulled my shirt off, exposing the bandaged burn. I clutched the shirt to my chest as Anya pulled off the bandages, covering myself.  
I hissed as she began to lift the bandage, and couldn’t help but cry out a bit as some of the salve stuck.  
“Easy, this will make it better,” Anya murmured.  
I did not reply. The next bit was the worst, as she cleaned the wound with a wet cloth, pulling all the old salve off and hydrating the skin, especially at the corners of the wound. It provided a little relief, but the sting came back ten times worse as soon as the coolness was gone. And no matter how gentle Anya was the cloth moving against the burn was still agonizing enough that it made me choke out a few quiet sobs and forced tears to my eyes.  
It was not only horribly painful, but also awfully embarrassing. A warrior as such as me cried in front of no one.   
When Anya bandaged it again I put on my shirt and turned to her. I expected her to rebind my wrists and silently take me back to camp, but instead she reached out and wiped away the tears. When I went to hide my face she caught my chin and forced me to look at her.   
“I’m not weak,” I defended angrily, trying and failing to get away from her grip and intense eyes.  
“I know that,” She replied, and I imagined the look in her eyes might be how an older sibling gazed upon a younger sibling.  
It made my head spin a bit.  
“When we get to my village, Lexa is supplying a new healer as our last one perished a while ago. They will know how to make a much better salve for your back.”  
I looked at her with big eyes before mumbling an ‘okay’ and leaning into her hand a bit.  
“What’s really going to happen at your village?” I so wanted to be able to trust her.  
“We’re going to teach you, train you and take care of you. We take care of all our children, and you will become a part of the village children soon.” Her reply was simply.  
“Really?” I asked softly.  
“Yes.” And I believed her.  
I don’t know why, I just did.  
And it kind of felt strange, yet at the same time good. For the first time I actually, truly thought about the future and what going to Anya’s village might be like. And I liked the idea. I liked it quite a bit. It made me slightly wary because it almost sounded like a dream, yet at the same time I so desperately wanted it to be true I was willing to give it a try.  
I looked at Anya and gave her a weak smile.  
She gave me a soft one back.


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An so the plot thickens....

**Chapter 8**

**_43_ **

_The slight girl with white hair looked impassively at the dead and dying men and women around her. She turned her head slightly and caught sight of 78 just as she flicked back into visibility._

_She remembers waking up, remembers the excited whispers. Remembers them talking about how a hundred years had passed with her frozen and remembers the doctors reaching for her._

_That had sparked thoughts of other doctors. Of painful experiment after experiment, constant surgeries and uncomfortable treatments, since she was a small child until the day they had frozen her at sixteen years of age._

_Her brain did what it had to do and began healing her own wounds at a rapid rate. She did not know where the others who had been frozen were, but she knew she was here with 78._

_One of the men let out a groan. She could fix him, but she wouldn’t. She had had enough of doctors torturing her._

_She remembers how the doctors had tried to restrain her the second she awoke, remembers 78’s startled eyes... And she remembers grabbing the nearest gun and shooting her enemies down. 78 had followed suit and it had taken literally seconds. Then, she had gotten down behind her chamber, 78 had winked out of sight and guards had stormed in, stopping once they saw the dead bodies._

_She had shot two from behind her chamber and two more were suddenly clutching their throats as 78 slit them open, invisible to the human eye._

_One of the guards had actually managed to get to her chamber and vaulted over it. She was naked, cold and weak and the guard had an advantage. She had shot him in the foot and he yelped before reaching out and wrestling the gun off of her. He then had tackled her to the ground and pushed his hand over her mouth, cursing her._

_She remembers the way his eyes widened as the coppery taste of his blood filled her mouth as she bit off three of his fingers, and how he didn’t even have time to scream before a jagged piece of plastic made its way into his throat courtesy of 78. Blood had sprayed on her face and she had pushed him off of her as she spat out his fingers. He had been the last one._

_A small crew indeed. They were stupid then. The facility knew both she and 78 were volatile, yet they left them with such a small, untalented group of soldiers and hadn’t even bothered to sedate them. 43 stretched her muscles as she leaned back on her hands._

_She had been tired of sitting, so she stood in one graceful movement._

_And that brings her to this very moment, watching 78 become visible._

_78 held out her hand. They had never been friends before. No-one had friends in the facility. But as she looked around she realised something. This was not the facility. Those guards were not wearing facility uniform and neither were the doctors. Looking back to 78 who towered over her by at least a head and a half, she knew she had realised the same things._

_She reached out and clasped 78’s hand in understanding. They would stick together for now._

_“We need to get out of here,” 43 said, her voice curiously hoarse as if she had not used it in a while._

_Then, despite her bodies rapid healing she shivered. 78, who she guessed to be a year older then her cocked an eyebrow._

_“Maybe some clothes first?”_

**Author's Note:**

> This story is how I am practicing my character building, which is why it is OC centric. There is some Clexa in the beginning, and I am fully intending on making that a bigger deal and happen more often in their POV chapters later because I love those gay nerds.  
> I also posted this to FanFiction.net


End file.
